<p>UW GPA: 3.58 (W: around 4.0)
SAT: 2400 <3</p>
<p>I took all honors/AP's. My extracurricular are nothing special but not particularly weak. I'll probably apply regular decision since my first choice is Wellesley. I'm not using Smith College as a backup or anything, I genuinely love the school. Any idea on my chances? Will my GPA prevent me from getting in?</p>
<p>As you’ve been pretty brief in the description of yourself, especially regarding ECs, it’s hard to say, but I think you’ve got a reasonable chance of admittance. What is your class ranking? What about your teacher recs? The SATs, while excellent, will help although they aren’t the “be all and end all”, and I think your GPA is fine. Smith looks at the whole picture. If you genuinely love Smith, be open to loving it so much you will be delighted to come. My daughter loved Wellesley, too, when she applied, but when she got a STRIDE scholarship from Smith and Wellesley couldn’t offer a comparable research experience or fin aid, she went to Smith and has adored it ever since. Good luck!</p>
<p>No one here can really say, but your GPA all by itself won’t prevent an offer of admission.</p>
<p><em>hugs</em></p>
<p>I got in RD with a much lower GPA and a slightly lower SAT score, don’t worry. 
Smith really does look at fit when it comes to the admissions process.</p>
<p>Same as Elonraearevn, I got in with a lower GPA and SAT. Don’t worry about it.</p>
<p>My unweighted GPA was the exact same as yours, my weighted a bit higher, and lower SAT/ACT. I think it might partly depend on the high school you are coming from and how competitive it is (I know for a fact that my high school is very well thought of by the admissions committee because of an interaction I had with the dean of admissions)</p>
<p>Thanks everybody! I’m also wondering what kind of extracurriculars you all had. As a shy person, I wasn’t all that involved in school. My EC’s were all centered around things I like to do by myself like writing for online publications and selling stuff on Etsy.</p>
<p>My ECs were almost entirely music based, which is what I wrote about in my supplement. (The question was something about what the admissions committee should look at beyond GPA, SAT, etc. and I said depth of commitment to any area.)</p>
<p>-studied piano from age 6 on, passed various levels of Certificate of Merit
-choir from 6th grade on (school choir grades 6-11, outside choir grade 12)
-private voice lessons from end of 9th grade on
-marching band (11th/12th grade)
-winter percussion (11th grade)
-paid TA position at music school (10th-12th grade)
-volunteer position at nonprofit art school (7th grade on)
-fenced sabre (5 years)
-Girl Scouts (1st grade on)
-Gay-Straight Alliance (9th-12th, treasurer 10th-12th)</p>
<p>If you’ve done what you like and you’ve been committed to that, purplepoppy, you’ll be fine. You’ve demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit with your Etsy sales, for one, and that’s a point in your favor. </p>
<p>My ECs, if I recall correctly, were as follows:</p>
<p>–Professional touring choir (9, 10, 11, 12)
–Volunteering at music camp for children (9, 10, 11, 12)
–Quiz Bowl with some league/state awards (10, 11, 12)
–Debate team with some league awards (10, 11)
–Summer theater programs (9, 10)
–Internship at a hospital (11)
–Student council secretary (12)</p>
<p>I also produced some creative writing on the side, some of which was published and some of which won awards.</p>
<p>I talked with someone (oh dear! I can’t remember who…) about my GPA, noting that there was a slight decline in my grades due to serious personal issues. She and others have advised that I write a letter explaining why my grades that year do not necessarily reflect my ability and how I have dealt with the issues. Maybe you could do something similar? Good luck!</p>
<p>well, i’m sure your lower GPA will have some effect on your admittance, but to be honest, if you had extracurriculars and AP’s, you most probably won’t be passed over. your great SAT speaks for itself. probably means your school is tough, or you had crazy teachers, or you fell ill on a term or something. btw if your school went on the policy of not adding to your GPA despite your AP’s, that’ll be even better cuz then your “true” GPA is probably around 3.8-ish? my stats were similar to yours, and to be honest, a lot of my AP teachers were NOT qualified to teach AP classes. you’ll be fine:)</p>
<p>how exactly would you write a letter about like an accumulation of things like an overqualified teacher with super hard tests who can’t teach?</p>
<p>Well, I would first of all not blame things on your teacher. Even if she wasn’t a great teacher, it’s very difficult to prove objectively that your teacher “can’t teach”. Also Smith and other top schools want students who can take on the “super hard tests” because that’s how these schools see their own curriculum. So if your main argument is that you had a bad experience with that teacher and thus you couldn’t handle the level of material you were being assigned, that’s not going to help your case with a college. If you have nothing but that, then it’s better to not write a letter at all. </p>
<p>Frankly, reasons for writing an explanation for a loss in grades are usually personal ones. Illness, family tragedy, major life disruption (sudden change of schools due to divorce or moving for example, natural disaster disrupting the school year), something that personally affected you and that you had no control over that had a heavy impact on your overall school performance. If your grade declined just in one class, rather than overall, and if it was for no other reason than you had a tough teacher, I would just not draw further attention to it by trying to do a formal explanation.</p>